Eastern Civilizations (Ancient India, China, Japan, and Pre-Columbian America) Flashcards by B -

A wide set of steps descending to a river, especially a river used for bathing

Ghats

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(563-483 BC) According to Buddhist tradition, Gautama Buddha received Enlightenment under this tree; revered by Buddhist as a holy shrine and remains a sacred pilgrimage site

Bodhi Tree, India

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More than 1,500 miles long; believed to be the sacred river of salvation by Hindus; the riverside city of Varansi became the capital of the Kashi kingdom in the 6th century BC and remains to be a holy place of worship in Northern India

Ganges River

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The indigenous Indus Valley civilization overwhelmed by an Aryan race originating from the region of the Caspian Sea (1500 BC)

Harappan culture

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The third emperor of the new Mauryan dynasty that united most of India; dedicated himself to Buddhism (r. 272-232 BC)

Ashoka

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In ancient India, this is the symbol of the creation of the world, of beauty formed out apparent waste

Lotus

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World mountain that is believed to be the center of the universe by the Hindus; a pillar between heaven and earth, relating it to the four quarters of the compass

Mount Meru

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An epic poem describing the Hindu gardens having “numerous arbours covered by creepers, charming artificial hillocks, lakes filled to the brim by delicate aquatic plants on which swam red geese, ducks, and swans”

Mahabharata

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In Buddhist thought, a diagrammatic representation of man’s relation to the universe; the basis of religious building; magic diagram of cosmos with a universal Buddha of the zenith on the center, surrounded by four mythical Buddhas located at the four cardinal points of the compass

Mandala

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A supreme monument in Java, probably built in the mid-eight century; has five successive square terraces that represent the earthly world and three circular terraces that represent the cosmos, where seventy-two Buddhas are seated in latticed stupas; the final terrace and stupa is where the supreme Buddha is

Stupa of Barabudur

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A Dravidian monument dedicated to Suva by Kishna I (AD 757-83) of the Rashtrakuta dynasty; intended as an architectural replica of the sacred Mount Kailasa; carved out of the Ellura Hills

Kailasanatha Temple

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Jungle city of water and mountain-temples on the Cambodian Lake Tonle Sap; founded as the capital of the Khmers (AD 900)

Angkor

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A man-made lake or reservoir constructed by dikes rather than excavations, in order to catch flood waters and later release them over the land

Barays

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The temple complex in Cambodia, symbolic of Hindu cosmology, with concentric canals, terraces, galleries, and central temple; it’s temple roof structure represented Mount Meru, an axis mundi between the sacred and profane worlds

Angkor Wat

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First built by Ashoka in central India; an important Buddhist monument to honor Buddha, surrounded by four gateways

Great Stupa at Sanchi

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Indian concept whereby architectural or sculptural form is given to the imagined structure of the cosmos and supernatural things or regions in order that men may have power over them through their symbols; “resemblance or counterpart of real forms”

Pratibimba

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Sanskrit for ‘heap’; originally were simple earthen burial mounds

Stupa

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Indian gateways, usually of stone, marking the entrance to a Buddhist shrine or stupa, or to a Hindu temple; consist of two pillar carrying two or three traverse beams; located at the four cardinal points

Torana

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Three great rivers that cross China from west to east

Yellow River (Huang-Ho)
Yangtse-kiang
Si-kiang

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(219 BC) Believed to be the mountaintop dwelling of the mythical Immortals by the Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi

Islands of the Immortals

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The Emperor who created a simulation of the Immortals homeland by building three artificial mountains in a lake, establishing the influential prototype of the lake-and-island garden

Emperor Wudi (141-86 BC) of the Han Dynasty

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The Chinese philosopher who systemized earlier rites and ideas into a moral code of behavior rather than of religion

Confucius (550-478 BC)

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Religion that means ‘the way’: all men must live, work, and die within the laws of nature ordained by the Lord of the Heaven, who moves all things

Taoism (Tao)

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Taoist concept of forces; symbolized by the rock, hill, or mountain as the stimulating male force, and the still water as the tranquilizing female force

Yin and yang

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Four cardinal animals of China (with cardinal point, color, season, and element representations)

Turtle (north, black, winter, water) Phoenix (south, red, summer, fire) Dragon (east, blue-green, spring, wood) Tiger (west, white, autumn, metal)

Private retreats, places for self-development, and communion with intimate friends in Suzhou; where scholar-officials retired from government service and decided to embrace the aesthetic of solitude, learning, and poverty

Scholar gardens

Considered as the "Venice of the East"

Suzhou

The capital established by the first Sung emperor, who reunified the country after the collapse of the Tang dynasty

City of Kaifeng

New capital of China under the Sung dynasty, after Kaifeng fell to a rival clan in 1126

Hangchow (Hangzhou)

Artificial lake made in the 17th century AD when the Hangchow City was founded; a fresh-water-fed from the mountains

West Lake

The Mongol emperor who conquered Hangchow in 1279 and formed the Yuan Dynasty; moved the capital to Peking (Beijing)

Kublai Khan

Located at the south of Peking, and east of the central axis; built by the Ming in 1420; symbolic of the relationship between the heavenly circle and the earthly square

Altar of the Heaven

Dynasty that marks the high point of Chinese imperial landscapes

Ming Dynasty

The person who converted the Great Wall from earth to stone, incorporating imposing fortress architecture on its twisting line

Yung Lo

In a Chinese garden, the lotus is a symbolism of...

Spiritual freedom

The "three friends of winter" that signifies longevity, endurance, and resilience respectively

Pine Plum Bamboo

Plants that represent the four seasons and the four traits of an ideal gentleman (plant and meaning)

Orchid - grace Bamboo - resilience Chrysanthemum - nobility Flowering Plum - endurance

The dynasty that replaced the Yuan dynasty when it collapsed in 1368

Ming Dynasty

The third Ming emperor who began the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing

Yongle

Consisted of hundreds of buildings and courtyard symmetrically arranged around a north-south axis and all buildings faced south; moat and wall surrounded it, which was contained within the boundaries of the Imperial City of China

Forbidden City

The "sea palaces" of the imperial park

Nanhai, Zhonghai, and Beihai

The dynasty established by the Manchu warriors from north, after desposing the last Ming emperor in the late 17th century

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

During his reign, China reached the height of prosperity and expansion; also nurtured the development of the arts and sciences

Qianlong (1736-1795)

A Scottish architect who went to China and published "Of the Art of Layout Out Gardens Among the Chinese"; who felt that there was an affinity between the British and Chinese philosophies, stating that "Chinese gardeners are like European painters

CHAMBERS, Sir William (1726-1796)

An imperial pleasure garden located in the Western Hills outside the Forbidden City, first planned by Emperor Kangxi and further developed by his grandson, Qianlong; comprised of three linked gardens representing the three geographic areas of China - the northwest plateau, the great plains, and the southeast coastal area

Yuanming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness), Beijing

Basic Japanese religion; worship of nature, sense of purity, and rice cultivation

Shintoism

The 'perfect' mountain in Japan, symbolic of the majestic dominance of nature over man, his work, and his art; particularly sacred to Shinto followers

Mt. Fuji

heavy straw ropes usually used by the Japanese to bind natural features as a recognition of the sanctity of the landscape

Shimenawa

Japanese of "wedded rock" particularly in a Shinto Shrine

Meoto iwa

A triadic rock composition, based on recalling sculptures of the Buddhist Trinity, developed chiefly within the vertical plane

Sanzonseki-gumi

A triadic rock composition based on the shape of the Chinese character for "articles," developed chiefly within the horizontal plane;

Hinbunseki-gumi

Japanese for 'gate'

Torii

Japanese for 'ancestral spirits'

Kami

The new capital, known as the Heian-kyo, or the City of Peace and Tranquility, was planned on a grid-like Chang-an in China and Nara, the previous capital of Japan

Kyoto

A garden manual written in the early 11th century by Tachibana no Toshitsuna, provides information about medieval gardens in Japan

Sakuteiki

A novel written in Japanese vernacular by Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century; characterized the medieval mindset and attitude toward nature

Tale of Genji

A Japanese style that refers to the style of domestic architecture that was developed for palatial or aristocratic mansions built in the regions of Heian-kyo (Kyoto); consists of the shinden hall (chief central building), and tainoya (eastern and western subsidiary living quarters) that were attached together by watadono (wide covered corridors); characterized by a special symmetry of the group of buildings

Shinden-zukuri

In Japan, a pond-and-island-type garden that represented Mt. Shumisen, the sacred center of the universe in the Buddhist doctrine

Turtle or tortoise-shaped island

In Japan, a pond-and-island-type garden that symbolized longetivity

Crane-shaped island

The Japanese artists term for the mood of great tranquility

Yugen

Period in Japan marked by a spirit of self-discipline and control, evidenced by the growth of religion (Zen Buddhism) and a new military class (the samurai warrior)

Kamakura Period

Provincial warlord in Japan

Shogun

Japanese for 'meditation seat' that can be found at Saiho-ji garden

Zazenseki

A paradise garden evolved between 1185 and 1332 as part of a return to contemplative Buddhism; redesigned by Muso Soseki (Muso Kokushi), a Zen priest who promoted gardening as a religious activity

Saiho-ji, Kyoto

The Japanese garden that represents an important transition between the pond-and-island-style-gardens of the Heian court and the contemplative style garden of the later Kamakura/ early Muromachi period

Tenryu-ji

A concept originally mentioned in the Sakuteiki, which creates the illusion of the streams and waterfalls through the placement of rocks and gravel, or "dry landscape gardens"

Kare sansui

A less symmetrical, more informal architectural style developed in the mid-14th century, or "reading room" style

Shoin-zukuri

The Japanese term for an alcove that projected out from the exterior wall and sometimes contained a writing desk and "picture window" that faced the garden

Shoin

Japanese term for 'borrowed scenery'

Shakkei

An alcove in a Japanese room, used for the display of art; a decorative alcove; a feature of the shoin architectural style, which originated from the Kamakura period

Tokonama

Rectangular mat used as a floor covering in Japanese houses

Tatami

A shinden-style estate converted to a picturesque retreat by the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu; located in the northwest sector of Kyoto

Kinkaku-ji (The Garden of the Golden Pavilion)

An era where its gardens were characterized by a reduced scale, a refined purpose, and a distinct architectural setting that reflected the military regime of the Ashikaga shoguns

Muromachi Era

A practice of an individual pursuit concerned with meditation and the development of the interior self

Zen

A Zen Buddhist monk during Muromachi period, who elaborated on Chinese ink painting techniques, and captured the immensity and depth of the landscape within a hanging scroll; resembles the Daisen-in

Sesshu

Japanese term for the art of flower arrangement

Ikebana

Tray gardens composed solely of stones and sand; an accepted art form during the Kamakura period

Bonseki

Dwarfed plants grown in tray-like containers

Bonsai

Garden building specialist in Japan that were considered poor people, who did the "unclean" work of tanning and grave digging

Kawaramono

A garden designer part of the kawaramono group, who gained respect and status for his ability to arrange rocks as they appeared in ink paintings

Zen'ami (c. 1386-1483)

A garden that dates from 1480 and was built by the eight Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimasa; a pond-style garden created on a more modest scale than Kinkaku-ji; consists of one of the first tearooms

Ginkaku-ji (Garden of the Silver Pavilion)

Water basin in Japan

Tsukubai

A Zen garden of contemplation and an example of a kare sansui garden within the precincts of Daiju-in monastery, Kyoto; consists of fifteen rocks in five groups of five, two, three, two and three each; governed by mathematical relationships, conveying to the subconscious an actual sense of harmony

Ryoan-ji

A kare sansui garden within the precints of the Daitoku-ji monastery at Kyoto; the most famous garden, on the northeast side, that uses rocks and sand to narrate an allegory of life's challenges and resolutions, beginning with the sacred mountain and concluding in the endless void

Daisen-in

The latter half of the 16th century Japan, after Muromachi period; ruled by Toyotama Hideyoshi who had a reputation as an extravagant dictator

Momoyama Era (1569-1603)

A castle built by Hideyoshi at Fushimi, south of Kyoto

Momoyama (Peach Hill)

Japanese for 'tea ceremony,' involving the performance of specific movements and behaviors in a particular setting

Cha no yu

The garden where the tea ceremony is held; the second term is a reference to the "dewy path" of rebirth in Buddhist doctrine, suggesting that the tea ceremony is more about the journey than the destination - stepping stones as physical representations

Cha niwa or Roji

The person who codified the austere principles of the tea ceremony

Sen no Rikyu

Such gardens have unique characteristics that include earth bridges, lakes with highly convoluted shorelines, and abundant use of large rocks (ex. Sambo-in, Kyoto)

Momoyama gardens

Japanese term for 'stepping stones'

Tobi-ishi

A large rock first appreciated by Oda Nobunaga, a daimyo who had it placed in the shogun's palace, moved by Hideyoshi to his own palace when Nobunaga died, and later transported it to Sambo-in

Fujito stone

Another of Nobunaga's generals, after Hideyoshi, who established a new warrior dynasty that lasted until the 19th century; who moved the shogunate to Edo (now Toyko), and issued a series of strict edicts to control all aspects of society like closing Japan to all foreigners with small exceptions

Tokugawa Ieyasu of the Edo Period (1615-1868)

Gardens modeled after the tea garden, whose function was realized on a much grander scale; designed to recall the natural scenery of Japan; develops from the stepping stones of the tea pavilion to become a garden of movement

Stroll gardens

Small interior courtyard gardens containing evocative elements, but were meant only for viewing, not occupation

Tsuboniwa

A principle of hide-and-reveal that added an element of anticipation and surprise to the experience in Edo stroll gardens

miegakure

Countryside retreat planned in 1620 by Prince Toshihito, the adopted son of Hideyoshi, and finished by his son, Toshitada; the definitive example of the stroll garden as a poetic experience

Katsura-rikyu (Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto)

A retirement villa planned by Emperor Gomizuno-o with Kobori Enshu, a tea master and garden design expert, in 1634; distinguished by its pebbled beach, turtle island, and earth bridge

Sento Gosho

Full Moon Bridge featured in the Koishikawa Korakuen, Tokyo, a pleasure park built by the Tokugawa daimyo Yorifusa Mito in 1629, along with Lu Shan, a 30-foot-high artificial mountain

Engetsu-kyo

Landscape garden masters or professional garden artist or landscaper in Japan

Niwashi

Mountain and water; "landscape" term in Japan and China

San sui or shan shui

A cosmological landscape (200 BC - AD 600); an extensive series of straight lines, geometric shapes, and animal figures were inscribed on the dry lake bed by overturning gravel and exposing the light-colored earth below (geoglyphs)

Nazca Lines, Peru

The earliest high civilization (c. AD 100-900), based on a religious hierarchy dominating an agrarian population

Mayan

The oldest and most grandiose sacred city or ceremonial capital, founded by the Zapotecs (c. 600 BC to 900 AD)

Monte Alban

A Mesoamerican city (c. AD 100-750) that lies twenty-eight miles northwest of Mexico City; characterized by the vast size of its monuments (e.g. Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon); where monuments are placed along an axial central way, or the Avenue of the Dead

Teotihuacan

The large sunken plaza of the Teotihuacan, also a Spanish term for 'citadel'

Ciudadela

One of the Mayan river cities in Central America (c. AD 600), probably the most assured in its composition that showcase an angular design concept; over two million cub. yards of soil were imported for its execution; consists of a court for ball games, and a steep hieroglyphic stairway

Copan

An ancient upright stone slab or column bearing a commemorative inscription or relief design

Stelae

An Aztec capital founded in c. 1350 on the present site of Mexico City, built on an island in Lake Texoco; according to legend, an eagle perched on a cactus growing from a rock near a spring

Tenochtitlan

The 'fairy islands of flowers' or the floating gardens of Mexico; a type of Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds (Tenochtitlan, 1438)

Chinampas

The only seat of an ancient high civilization to lie wholly south of the Equator

Peru

An indigenous civilization of the Americas and a society highly organized and communal under an absolute monarchy that collapsed when the divine ruler was captured and eliminated by the Spaniards in 1532

Incas

The capital founded by the Incas in the eleventh century, occupying a strip of highlands of the Andes; thought to be mapped with sacred lines that radiated from the Omphalos, the temple of the sun

Cuzco

The sacred Incan lines that radiated from Omphalos, the temple of the sun; the straight lines showed the builders where to place their sacred sites

Ceques

An Incan citadel among the mountains with an almost sheer drop of some two thousand feet to the River Urubamba; set out to be a gridirion or rectangular, but geometry was distorted by the topography

Machu Picchu (c. 1500)

Unique practice of the Incas where each stone was treated individually with either a convex or concave to fit its adjoining stone, presumably to resist earthquakes

Stonework

The last Aztec emperor who initially welcomed the Spaniards, but later killed by Hernando Cortes, a Spanish conquistador who seized Aztec lands and eventually overthrew the entire Aztec empire (1521); his palace surrounded an 'extensive gardens filled with fragrant plants and medicinal plants'

Montezuma II

A Spanish conquistador, who conquered the Incan Empire by subjugating the territories around Cuzco, and established a new city at Lima (1539)

Francisco Pizzaro